Many commercials don't use real people like they claim. This Dove campaign makes a similar claim, and I hope it's true. I love the message of Dove's Real Beauty Sketches. An artists first has people describe themselves. The language they use is harsh. Then, a person they met that day describes them. The language they use is a lot nicer and complimentary. That person (almost, if not all were women) then got to see both sketches side by side. They discovered that they were beautiful. One women said she would learn to embrace her natural beauty.
While this isn't a traditional commercial, it's a campaign that gives Dove ethos and appeals to the needs of women, mainly. When it came to the main need this commercial addressed, I wrestled between two: the need for attention and the need for prominence. In the end, I decided that this commercial satisfied the need for prominence in women. The need for the attention is about the need to stand out, whereas the need for prominence is more about a need for importance. That's what the women in this commercial wanted. They wanted to be admired and respected. Looks have a lot to do with. This commercial gives women a sense of importance. I felt more confident about my looks, which, unfortunately, is important in today's society. One women said that our feelings about our own looks also dictate who we choose to associate with.
I thought this commercial used the ad techniques Transfer/Association and Glittering Generalities. The message of the Dove campaign is a good one. It makes women feel good about themselves. It gives them confidence. Those good confident feelings are transferred to or associated with Dove. I also thought that the commercial used Glittering Generalities. It used the word beauty and the words natural beauty frequently. This enhances those positive feelings transferred to Dove.
The artist's description of his job as a forensic artist reminded me of the rhetorical triangle. The Dove commercial uses ethos by employing a FBI trained forensic artist who worked for the San Jose Police Department for sixteen years. They are trained to draw detailed pictures based on a person's description. The Dove commercial also used pathos well. The piano music was soft and very emotional. The scene when the women see both sketches and realize that they are naturally beautiful is emotionally appealing.
I love this commercial/campaign. It kills me to think about the problems with it. The forensic artist could be drawing ugly first sketches on purpose. The people describing the women are obviously going to be nice, either because they were told to want to be nice people in the commercial. Still, I'd take a fake commercial with a good message over a fake commercial with a bad message any day.
I agree with much of your analysis. However, I am not sure I completely agree with it being a completely positive message. The first thing I noticed is that the advertisement made me feel like the people were evaluating themselves based on appearance, which in my opinion is a bad thing that. Furthermore in dialogue you referenced the woman says "I should be more grateful of my natural beauty; it impacts the choices in friends that we make, the jobs that we apply for... it impacts everything." In this sentence I took it to stand for natural beauty. If that is the case than she is saying that woman's lives depend on the quality of their looks, which is also bad.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the advertisement may be telling woman a positive message that they are more beautiful than they think they are, it is also saying that this beauty is what makes them successful and happy. This second part seems like it is miss valuing the importance of appearance.